False-noise analysis using logic implications

Abstract

Cross-coupled noise analysis has become a critical concern in today's VLSI designs. Typically, noise analysis makes the assumption that all aggressing nets can simultaneously switch in the same direction. This creates a worst- case noise pulse on the victim net that often leads to false noise violations. In this article we present a new approach that uses logic implications to identify the maximum set of aggressor nets that can inject noise simultaneously under the logic constraints of the circuit. We propose an approach to efficiently generate logic implications from a transistor-level description and propagate them in the circuit using ROBDD representations. We propose a new method for lateral propagation of implications and also show how tristate gates and high-impedance signal states can be handled using tristate implications. We then show that the problem of finding the worst-case logically feasible noise can be represented as a maximum weighted independent set problem and show how to efficiently solve it. Initially, we restrict our discussion to zero-delay implications, which are valid for glitch-free circuits, and then extend our approach to timed implications. The proposed approaches were implemented in an industrial noise analysis tool and results are shown for a number of industrial test cases. We demonstrate that a significant reduction in the number of noise failures can be obtained from considering the logic implications as proposed in this article, underscoring the need for false-noise analysis.